Goth: A History comes from someone who was there.
Lol Tolhurst co-founded The Cure with Robert Smith, so when he writes about Siouxsie & the Banshees, Joy Division, Wire, or Bauhaus, it reads like a memory, and not just a “the history of...”
It’s also a personal memoir.
His big idea is that goth was never just black clothes and eyeliner. It’s how outsiders got through bleak times and found each other through literature, music, fashion, and a way of thinking.
The story that hit me the hardest was probably chapter four: Architects of Darkness and his fascinating description and album reviews of Joy Division.
I honestly loved it. Tolhurst is honest, funny, sincere, and still clearly a fan. It sent me straight back to pull two records off the shelf as I finished the book.
Faith by The Cure and Closer by Joy Division. Two of the best albums I’ve ever heard and tonight I revisited them. It also reminded me of seeing The Cure in 1992 during the Wish tour… I was a right out of high school and obsessed with the band then as I still am now.
Are you a fan of The Cure? Depeche Mode? Sisters of Mercy? Bauhaus? Read it. It won’t let you down. I promise.
What's your favorite goth record?